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“Posies” makes Horn Book Fanfare!

OK, it’s time for celebration! I just got word that my new book, Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes has been put on the highly respected Horn Book Magazine’s Fanfare list of best children’s books of 2010. Martha Parravano, The Horn Book’s executive editor, said in an interview with 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast that my book “features scene after stunning scene created in embroidery – which sounds quite static, and yet the pictures are not only gorgeous but also full of life and movement and story.” I love this description because my main focus was to bring as much life and movement into this book as possible, given the limitations of the technique.

Posies has also been given a Platinum Best Book Award by the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio. Their web site says, “The Oppenheim Toy Portfolio is the only independent consumer review of children’s media.” Apparently the Oppenheims talk about children’s toys and books on programs like the Today Show, but living in a cocoon without TV for most of my adult life, I hadn’t heard of them. There is something special and symbolic about a seal. Maybe this isn’t a big deal, but I thought it was nice that such a mainstream group would even notice my book. Yeah!

Jumping Joan (detail from "Pocketful of Posies")

Shoo fly don't bother me from "Pocketful of Posies"

Reminder: Original illustration from Pocketful of Posies are on display in the children’s gallery at the Danforth Museum in Framingham, Mass. until Jan. 23rd, 2011. I will be giving a short talk about my work at 2:00pm at the museum on Sunday, Dec. 5th and signing copies of my book from 1:30-3:30.

So very happy for you, Salley. You richly deserve the “FANFARE” for your beautifully done and labor intensive book. I can picture the future generations of book lovers arguing about who will inherit THAT book when families divide up the belongings of the last generations…..it will be a collectible and people will look all over for the copies circulating on the antique market. How satisfying it must be to have made a treasure.

This is fantastic news Sally and you deserve it. I have never seen such life in embroidery and little figures as you do. No one does them better and I never tire of looking into those little delicate scenes of life you create.

So well deserved – congratulations! You have taken away the limitations from this media – your work is every bit as nuanced and detailed as a painting, and just as with a painting, both my girls and I never tire of looking at anything you’ve created!

Congratulations to you for this much deserved accolade. I use to refer to “The Horn Book” publication when I was teaching, to gather ideas and resources, and I always valued its opinions. Your being honored is no surprise to me since your work has always intrigued and fascinated me. I am so happy for you that others are now recognizing your well-loved works. BRAVO and CHEERS to YOU!

Have to add another little comment…..I just wrapped the copy of “Pocketful of Posies” that I purchased for my first grandchild that will arrive in April (a girl) and sent it on its way to (MY only child) my son and his wife as a “Congratulations on the baby being a girl!” gift. There are very few girls in my family. It is the first book to be given to Bunnie Foo Foo and, therefore, is very special to me, and, hopefully her. Only hope it is not bad luck to send a gift before she is born, but just HAD to do it. She will be getting a lot of books from us, but this special book had to be her first.

Congratulations, Salley! Well-deserved honors! This book is my new favorite baby gift. I always like to give a Mother Goose book, and there are so many beautifully illustrated ones that it can be hard to choose – but this one just stops my heart.